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Uber CEO To Take Leave, Diminished Role After Workplace Scandals (bloomberg.com)

Posted by msmash on from the fixing-things dept.

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick will take a leave of absence from the world's most valuable privately held company, he announced in an email to employees Tuesday. From a report: Uber Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick told staff he plans to take a leave of absence, without disclosing a return date. The company will strip him of some duties and appoint an independent chair to limit his influence after a slew of scandals, according to an advance copy of a report prepared for the board. At a staff meeting Tuesday, the company will convey the results of a probe conducted by Eric Holder, the former U.S. attorney general who Uber hired to look into allegations of harassment, discrimination and an aggressive culture. The 47 recommendations include creating a board oversight committee, rewriting Uber's cultural values, reducing alcohol use at work events, and prohibiting intimate relationships between employees and their bosses. Uber's board met Sunday to review a detailed version of the report and voted unanimously to approve the recommendations. Afterward, the San Francisco-based company ousted Emil Michael, Uber's head of business.

6 of 86 comments (clear)

  1. Predictable response by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As usual, Slashdot readers will reject that there could be harassment or discrimination against women in the workplace. The male-dominated crowd on this site will spin it as somehow being the result of quotas leading to the hiring of unqualified female engineers. It's a predictable response and one that comes out in every story about discrimination and harassment, regardless of the circumstances and the strength of the evidence to support the claims. I'm not sure why these stories get posted any longer because the response is so predictable, just like a broken record.

    1. Re:Predictable response by Tranzistors · · Score: 2, Insightful

      For some reason some /. users demand forensic evidence where it is not appropriate. Sure, if scientists discover something, asking for the link to the paper is reasonable. But when the news is something like “Mary Elizabeth is expecting a baby”, I bet there will be some asshat that will demand notarized doctor statement or something like that. "Leaks or it didn't happen" is stupid.

    2. Re:Predictable response by interkin3tic · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "Regardless of evidence" such as Uber saying yes, there is sexism here, but there is everywhere else too so why not join?

      Evidence like an engineer who worked there saying there was sexism?

      Dudes online have an urge to imagine we got where we are based on merit, not gender. When we hear about sexism, that challenges that just world fallacy. The standard operating procedure of dudebros to continue ignoring it is to demand evidence of each specific new accusation, ignoring all the other millions of cases. Then, when evidence is found, we say it's not good enough for the supreme court of dudes opinions online.

      FFS all the adults here know silicon valley is run by frat boy types, there's ample evidence if you were paying attention even to just slashdot comments, let alone stories.

    3. Re:Predictable response by fiannaFailMan · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I agree. At first I thought /. was full of Uber shills, but instead it just seems to be riddled with the same kind of sexist bullshit that I saw in every small or startup company I worked for in the valley.

      --
      Drill baby drill - on Mars
  2. It's time... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The 47 recommendations include creating a board oversight committee, rewriting Uber's cultural values, reducing alcohol use at work events, and prohibiting intimate relationships between employees and their bosses.

    Time to end being a startup and grow up into a Fortune 500 company. Everyone will attend sensitivity training until that happens.

  3. Uber is not the most valuable private company by sjbe · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Uber CEO Travis Kalanick will take a leave of absence from the world's most valuable privately held company

    It is HIGHLY unlikely that any reasonable valuation of Uber exceeds that of Saudi Aramco which is the actual most valuable private company in the world.

    Given that Uber lost something like $2.8 Billion last year, proclaiming it the most valuable private company in the world is just plain idiotic.